'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.'

The call of the disciples, their unique role, and the care and patience of Christ in their training. Then the preparation of the church for extreme and persistent opposition, the reasons why demons were cast out, the unpardonable sin, and the supreme mark of true conversion.

Christ was indignant and grieved at the scribes' hardness of heart, and here is why. We also see what gives believers times of coldness, and show the remedies. The healing of a man's withered hand illustrates the way saving faith operates to bring conversion.

Here are the purposes of the sabbath, the additional purpose after deliverance from Egypt, and the even greater purpose after the resurrection of Christ. Here also is the error of rejecting the fourth commandment today, and how Christ is the Lord of the sabbath.

First - what Christ saw in Matthew; second - Christ viewed as the Physician; third - why the disciples did not fast; fourth - the patching of the old garment and the new wine into old bottles: the distinctiveness of the testaments, and the necessity of total conversion for seekers.

The first recorded healing of a leper by Christ and how it illustrates conversion, together with the healing of a paralysed man of Capernaum and its parallels with salvation. More than a demonstration of power, here is the call of Christ in miracles.

We begin with Capernaum - a city of spiritually dead though religious Jews, and a significant healing in the synagogue. Then we give seven proofs that Christ's healing miracles pictured His spiritual healing of souls. Then two special miracles and the message of salvation to us today.

'For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.'

Tracking the first months of the Lord's ministry, including the three successive calls of the first disciples: 1) the elements of the call; 2) the work to which they were called; and 3) their phased response to the point of full yielding to Christ.

Mark places the beginning of the Gospel era from the ministry of John the Baptist, who calls the nation to repentance and change, and who witnesses Christ's endorsement by the Father. Here also is the reason for Christ's baptism and the deep meaning of His 'beloved' status.